2024-05-08 04:16:06
Versatile on and off the field
Perhaps because he was born in North Carolina, a major basketball city, Aaron Wiggins, a native of Greensboro, the state’s third-largest city (following Charlotte and the capital Raleigh), got it first encountered at the age of four. or five years. When I started playing basketball, I fell deeply in love with the sport. After entering college, I decided to stay active in basketball for a long time. Despite this, Wiggins wasn’t just focused on ball sports as a child. His mother Serena encouraged him to participate in various extracurricular activities. He played piano in class, played trombone in the band and appeared in “High.” School Musical” and “Oz”. Life can be said to be colorful in classic plays such as “The Wizard of Oz”.
Additionally, until he reached seventh grade, Wiggins often took dance classes, such as ballet, jazz, hip-hop, and tap. These experiences played a big role in his later basketball career.
“I think dancing helps me improve my balance and body control,” Wiggins said. “Looking back, I’m grateful to have done those things and tried various things, so it’s fun to look back on that.”
Wiggins didn’t have much fame in the basketball world at first. It wasn’t until following his junior year in high school that he started getting recruited by some NCAA Tier 1 schools. The one who attracted the most attention in the team was French. forward Jaylen Hoard (they later became Thunder teammates). He already set a record of 41 points in a single game during the U17 World Cup. Wiggins began to shine during his senior season in high school. He was selected to the best team in the conference and competed in the AAU league. He began to attract attention from top tier schools such as the University of Kansas and the University of. Arizona, and was recognized as a four-star high school senior, when University of Maryland scouts made a special trip to see Hoard, they also witnessed Wiggins’ skills. Eventually, they remained actively in contact with him and his family, and successfully. persuaded Wiggins to join the team.
Adapt to the team and become versatile on the bench
As the nation’s 41st player and ninth player at the same position, the newly arrived Wiggins naturally assumed the starting power forward position following Kevin Huerter left the team. However, following a few games, he told head coach Mark. Turgeon that he might play on the bench More comfortable. Maryland not only has six top 100 high school players this year, but also two future NBA players, Jalen Smith and Bruno Fernando, in addition to itself. Therefore, Wiggins’ decision not only helps him, but also makes Maryland’s second team stronger. .
After a poor start to the season, Wiggins had an excellent performance in his first season, scoring 8.3 points in just 23.5 minutes. His outside shooting percentage was the highest on the team at 41.3%, which was good support for the team. attack on the team bench. However, there is still some gap between good college basketball players and NBA players. Aaron Wiggins naturally knows this, and he is not satisfied with this small success.
“I believe Coach Turgeon didn’t recruit me here just to be a regular basketball player,” Wiggins said.
Turgeon viewed Wiggins as Maryland’s future offensive core and was very blunt with him, saying the team would not be better if he played as a freshman next season. Wiggins heeded Turgeon’s words and was eliminated by LSU in the NCAA tournament – four days following his freshman season ended, and before April even arrived, Wiggins was already preparing for his sophomore season, at from 8 a.m. round” for more than six hours a day.
However, the results of more than six months of intensive training backfired. Through the first 16 games of his sophomore season, Wiggins shot just 28.8 percent from outside (23 of 80), which also helped Turgeon. to use them The decision to consider him as the main offensive force didn’t seem so wise, but then the team made some adjustments and put him back in the familiar sixth man position. Wiggins also corrected the track with his extraordinary confidence.
“You can’t let one thing (shooting performance) affect other parts of your game. I know I’m ready to rebound better, defend better, limit pick-and-rolls and other small things to make sure that even if the shot doesn’t go as planned, it has an influence in other ways as well,” Wiggins said.
“It’s disappointing to miss those wide open shots, but at the same time, I’ve made those shots before, and I’ve made a lot of harder shots, and I can’t just sit and think regarding those mistakes , and Coaches and teammates who know you will support you and tell you to keep shooting, they will put the ball in the same place and you just want to stay confident and shoot.
Although the overall efficiency decreased, the shooting percentage inside the three-point line increased from 45.1% to 45.1%, an increase of almost 11 percentage points from the previous season. He averaged 10.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. , and half of the matches played throughout the season. Starting on the bench, he won the Big-10 Sixth Man of the Year award.
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